Review meeting on GM rice incident
Thursday 29 November 2007
The Food Standards Agency today held a review meeting, following the incident involving unauthorised GM rice (LLRICE601) in 2006 and the Judicial Review in February 2007.
The Judicial Review found in favour of the FSA but the judge made a recommendation to the Agency to reflect on certain points when he 'stopped the clock' at specific times during the judgement.
The independently-chaired review meeting included a range of stakeholders directly involved in the incident, including:
- Friends of the Earth
- Food and Drink Federation
- British Retail Consortium
- Rice Association
- Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Resources (LACORS)
The Agency remains committed to ensuring it acts in an appropriate and proportionate manner. The meeting was held to provide an open platform to review the FSA’s actions and for stakeholders’ suggestions to be fed into an action plan.
A report on the incident is being drafted and will be considered by the FSA’s Emergencies Committee, alongside the draft action plan. These will be published on website in due course.
